We had a great opportunity to talk with Diana Caballero, founder of BOOST Fitness Studio in Geneva. She talked about her experiences as a female entrepreneur and introduced us to the # BOOSTYOURSELF concept, which she launched a year ago in Geneva.
Over the course of more than 8 years, you worked for multinational corporations. How did you decide to launch your own business?
I worked in two multinationals, Henkel and Cartier. I was always of the mind that I wanted to start my own business, and I always thought that what better way to turn your hobby into a way of living and earning money!
I’ve done different sports and exercise all my life, even before I had a memory; my mom has pictures of me taking swimming lessons when I was just 1.5 years old.
To me, exercise is a whole lifestyle in terms of commitment to yourself and knowing yourself better in different ways. Every single time I work out, I discover something new about myself.
Having that as a background, when I was working in Cartier back in Mexico City, I used to workout twice a day, at 7 am and 7 pm, so every 12 hours I was sweating, and such a big city has multiple fitness studios and different workouts… so I thought “imagine running a fitness studio, would be amazing”, but it was as I would say, “in the cloud,” some random idea, non-realistic, just “it would be nice”.
What pushed me to do it in a different sense was that I thought to myself, I don’t want to ask for holidays. Why do I need to ask someone if I want to enjoy my time!
Another reason was that I was starting from scratch. Moving from Mexico to Geneva pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and start realizing what I really wanted.
Life gave me the chance and opportunity to start from 0, so I took it.
Did your experience in large corporations help you when starting your own business?
It did help, for sure, even if the studio has nothing to do with a multinational or a luxury company, for sure I learned. I worked as a business analyst at Cartier, which allowed me to gain a broad perspective on the company in two ways:
– How to deal with numbers, spot the right opportunity, look at trends, and everything related to the business itself. How to understand the past to make good decisions in the future.
– Client relations, which I consider even more important for the studio right now. Customer service, marketing and communication trends, after-sales service, reading what the client wants, and delivering it.
A quick background about my studies, which I think would be important to mention, is that I studied Business Administration in Geneva and did an MBA specializing in luxury marketing. These bachelor and postgraduate degrees, plus my experience as a business analyst, gave me a very important basis. After some time, I certified myself as a fitness instructor.
What was the most challenging part of your entrepreneurial journey?
Introspectively, fight against fear and self-doubt. When Boost started (even before opening), it was, I would think one of the greatest fears I’ve ever had. It is a constant struggle between excitement one day and doubts the next one.
The external factors are:
Cultural clash; the concept is completely new, people from Geneva don’t know this kind of studio … so, would it be accepted? Will they like it? How will I communicate with them and how will I educate my client?
Now after a year of running Boost, the most challenging part is communication. Many people don’t use Instagram, which nowadays is one of the most used tools in communication, but society is “starting” to use it.
Another important factor is that people come and go, so we need to strike a balance between growing the community that is fully based in Geneva and the constant coming and going of foreigners. Every time we need to “educate” the customers so they know what Boost is and its concept, we also need to keep the ones who already know us engaged.
It’s not like a normal business that you grow in parallel to your community; you need to have constant “education” for the people outside that have just moved to Geneva.
What would be your advice for someone who wants to start something on their own?
Never underestimate yourself, your work, and your ideas.
– The effort, 24/7…. commitment, consistency. If you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you, so how bad do you want to start your business? How much do you believe in it? If you are not fully invested, it’s not even worth the effort.
– Surround yourself with people that really believe in you and your business. The rest doesn’t matter. They will only think you are crazy. But have they created themselves a business? Did they get out of their comfort zone? Did they ever take a real risk?
You founded BOOST, a fitness studio with a unique concept. Can you explain to us why the BOOST is so special?
BOOST is a lifestyle, a way of converting yourself into your best version, to then share it with everyone else around you.
Inside the blue room, you don’t know what time it is, what day it is, like the brain all of a sudden just shuts off, to get ready for your 50 min of focusing on yourself, controlling your breathing, your moves, staying focused and committed, giving an extra effort and an extra mile.
50 minutes is just 4% of your day where you break your own limits (consciously or unconsciously), where you think you can’t do anymore, but still, you did that one more rep that changed your day. You went out of your comfort zone, and just by that, the whole effort is worth it. We always say we connect the mind with the body.
With our encouraging coaches and community, you just realize that we all start from somewhere, that we all have a different pace, goals, objectives, and bodies, and that it’s you vs. you, no one else.
You always have a mirror in front of you during the workout, where the focus is on yourself, so you can’t just feel what you are doing, but also see how you are doing. Even if there are more people in the room, you don’t “see” them, you are so focused on yourself, that you just “feel” their energy, and that is one of the most amazing experiences.
Once you live and feel the BOOST experience, all your lifestyle, how you start knowing yourself, how you start feeling better, how you start interacting with others…. changes.
How does BOOST help in connecting mind and body? Can you tell us how your clients changed during their BOOST journey?
When you BOOST there is no one else, or anything else. It’s like meditation. What are you feeling at that moment? With which feeling are you working out… With happiness, anger, motivation, discipline?
It helps you know yourself better and create your best version. We believe that you need to be good in the inside to be good on the outside, and spread that energy of fulfillment with everyone around you.
How our clients have said that BOOST has improved their lives:
– More self-love and body acceptance
– More energetic and positive.
– In the studio, many friendships have been created
– People who used to hate working out now come every day.
– People who previously worked out at a traditional gym or with a personal trainer stopped making BOOST their place to work out.
– The community that has been formed is very encouraging; they support one another and applaud each other’s efforts.
– Your life automatically improves when you get to know yourself better. You can foresee and control your next move, and your reaction, and respect your pace and process.
– It is good for your mental health.
– They don’t complain anymore of any pain they might have had in normal tasks (like walking or carrying things around).
Do you have any advice on how to start exercising? We all know that it is important, but some of us are lazy.
Stop using any kind of excuse. Excuses are not valid. Laziness is an excuse. Do it, with laziness, but do it. Do those 20 squats with laziness, but do them, and whenever you finish, discover how you feel afterward.
It is up to you to have the willpower to get out of your comfort zone and give yourself the chance to meet your new best version.
If you are not willing to change that mindset, then whatever anyone tells you won’t work.
